The best way to deal with about any oak .... of any size ... is to just burn it. But, beyond that bit of experience, would your chainsaw be able to cut at least half way through the 3 foot diameter? If so, then simply cut down from each side. Now, be very careful doing this! The tip and upper side of your chainsaw will be riding wood through that first cut at least. That's where it might catch and send it up and back at you. You'll also be cutting directly into end-grain. That takes awhile with most chains and is hard on the operator too. If you think you can cut through at least half of the 4 foot length, you can lay that log over on it's side and do the same thing. You'll be cutting "with the grain" and it'll be easier going. Your saw will clog up with shavings a lot though.
Other than that:
1) Find a friend that does have a big enough chainsaw2) Split it first either by hand or by machine
3) Burn it.4) Get a huge bandsaw to cut it up
5) Burn IT6) Leave one side of it laying on the ground for a few years. It'll rot and be easy to break away.
7) BURN IT ! (can you tell I don't like most oaks? )- Andrew
You think so? Oh, some of them are alright but that's a wood that's not real easy to practice on. You'll be wondering (like I did) if it's you or the wood that's having the problems. It'll probably be both actually. ha! White oak isn't too bad.
Pine is good to practice on and if you can get a good finish "off the tool" with it then you know you've accomplished something. Maple is very forgiving and is easy to turn. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of maple around here though. Not like the oaks .... grrrrrrrr.
Yes, please don't take more out of you than the tree. Go easy and be prepared for the kick. I do it all the time but then I've been doing this for a long time too. Still gets me into trouble now and then though.
Good luck,
- Andrew
"3.. The World-famous Treatise on LDD" is winging its way to you as I type!
Green? I have eight pine logs (white pine, probably) laying around. I cut them last fall, and they're still reallllly green. I've been afraid to try to work them into anything for fear of getting pine sap stuck to every square inch of my body and shop.
Would giving them a few years to dry out improve matters, or should I just hack them up as they are?
I have about 30 wheelbarrow loads of maple prunings as practice stock. Most of it is quite small, but the price was right. (Namely, hauling 30 wheelbarrow loads of stuff out of a neighbor's yard...)
Did I do good? :)
(So far I have one wheelbarrow full of kindling. I'm getting the hang of it though. Maybe my results will improve slightly when I trade up from the $9.99 set of ultra pro quality tools I have. :)
(Which I unwittingly paid $15 for on eBay years ago... DOH!)
Ohhhh YEAH !
- You know who
No. I meant dry pine. You can get some interesting visual effects in finishing with green pine but it's a big mess to work as you mentioned.
Burn them. They're not worth the time and space to dry just for practicing woodturning.
There you go ! Be aware that the thinner you go, the more flex these green maple branches are going to have. Also, you'll be getting quite a bit of the long "threads" that just don't seem to want to let go. They'll just flap against the toolrest. I notice this more when using a skew in a planing type of cut. It's a good way to do XMas trees, by the way. Don't worry about those things. It's just the nature with some woods, especially green maple. You'll enjoy this wood. Green American Sycamore and Hackberry are close seconds. Just realize that not all wood is going to be this enjoyable.
That's ALL ? Better get busy.
I got mine for around $8. I've gone back and bought 2 other sets of these. They're just cheapy carbon steel but they still work. I don't use the large shallow gouges (reground for other uses) or the diamond point tool (again, reground) but still use the 2 smaller shallow gouges all the time. VERY sharp and easy / quick to refresh with a slipstone on each side. I'll use these sets for my smaller work until there's no more steel left. That's not to say that I haven't filled in the tool spaces with quality tools where it makes sense. I don't do great pieces of art (sometimes I do pretty well) but that's due to my own lack of technique, vision and experience ... not those tools.
- Andrew
Maple is EVIL don't believe him, ive had 4 maple bowls break(i made five) they where a pain to finish too. yellow cedar is much more fun:)(or it could be that maple dislikes me for drinking so much of its sap.
It's been answered but I thought I'd give you a little more detail on WHY this isn't a happening thing...the "cheap turning tool set" that you bought is made of pretty low grade tool steel(which is NOT the same as high speed steel) at best and is likely only capable of going up to about 55-58 on the rockwell scale...tempering will REDUCE the hardness of a piece of hardened steel while at the same time, increase the toughness of the steel. Or it's high carbon steel which is capable of roughly the same hardness, but the resulting steel is not going to hold an edge very well at all.
This is not to say that they are worthless, just don't expect to be able to sharpen one and be able to turn a bowl or box without having to resharpen it several times. It can also help you decide exactly what tools you DO want to pay the $$$s for...oval vs. rounded vs. square edge skew...long point vs. short point...grind angle...things like that. And if you grind one up to try out a different form and it doesn't work out, you aren't out a lot of money
Some will tell you...and have, at length...to burn it, but if you can get past the smell of green oak, in this case, it'll be cheap learning stock for you. But please, dear god(if there is one) be fear-of-god-careful trying to cut the stump up with a too small chainsaw. Better yet...find someone with a saw big enough to cut it safely.
Hey, Leif...could you forward a copy of the LDD treatise to me too, please? Thanx
Luck
Mike
Can I come play? ha I've got several cedar logs I pulled up near the workshop over the summer while cleaning out an overgrown pasture. I've been tempted to slice off a few chunks to turn something out of them but I can't get over the fact that I'd become a human-sized flypaper in no time. A fort is a good idea. :)
Cracks are bad when learning. Great when you can work them into your "design" at the intermediate levels. Bad again when you become an "artist" and just hide the wood and any character it may have by your piercing, carving, coloring, and any other "surface treatment" that someone will pay dearly for.
You're FU#*!!& RIGHT Saved my bacon the week after I begrudgingly bought it after receiving advice here a few years ago to do it. It's saved me a couple of times after that too. Had a thin (sharp!) bowl blow up right in my face at fullspeed. Had that face shield on and haven't taken it off ever since ... although you couldn't tell by looking at my face.
Yeah yeah. There's always some excuse. "I can't drive to the store for that pink ivory ... I'm only 5 years old!" Sure sure dear. Seriously though, it sounds like you're off to a great start.
Copying things are pretty difficult. If you haven't already, take a look at the Ernie Conover books/videos. He mentions topics along these lines concerning so-called Spindle Turners versus Bowl Turners. I think there's some truth in there although I know not just a few "Bowl Turners" that were offended by that.
Use the steel dust to accent your turnings and charge 20 times the price. It'll work. It's bound to. Sharpening is a big deal in woodturning. A lot of attention is paid this topic but it's still probably not enough. I did my "time" in grinding and sharpening school when I was 8 years old. I learned on an ancient arbor with an even more ancient wheel on one end and a wire wheel on the other end. The wheel would move horizontally left/right a few inches if you put any pressure on it at all. It was about 20 grit or something and driven by this huge 1 hp motor with a really bad V belt that had chunks out of it and splits on a shaky stand. I had to sharpen all the farm tools, knives, wood and stone chisels, screwdrivers, and anything else that didn't already have a sharp point to it. Freehand. Now THAT teaches a kid to sharpen with a light touch and a steady hand. You know, I used that setup until I was 18 and went to college.
I get nervous around these nice, quite, dead steady, slow grinder "systems" of today. They don't move right.
Have a good one,
- Andrew
Yeah, sure, bring them over and we'll make ourselves a nice big fort. :)
The wood didn't have much holding it together in the middle. It might have come apart even if I hadn't gotten caught in the crack.
Oh well, that's why new turners should never spend money for wood, right? :)
I have no real aspiration to be an artist. If I could just make a couple of salt shakers and a few chess sets I'd be a happy turner. :)
(Hafta tackle carving some day too, if I'm going to do the knights. No wonder quality wooden sets go for $300+)
It's saved my bacon more times than I can count so far. Usually I get a green spindle a little too thin, and then WHACK!
I wear mine all the time too. I forget it's there. Comfortable! Why does anybody wear safety glasses? I was always getting sawdust in my eyes in spite of my oversized safety glasses with side shields. (Goggles prevented that, but goggles should be called foggles. Hard to see what you're doing through the misty haze.)
If it offended someone, I'll have to take a look for sure. :)
Heh, I guess not. :)
I'm getting better, but spindle gouges are still kicking my butt. I have some nice gouge-shaped scrapers, but they don't work very well as gouges.
I've about worn out my grinding wheel too.
I'll figure it out though. I have to! :)
Can the steel in my cheap turning tool set be tempered for better hardness? ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Jim Gott wrote: Unfortunately, no. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Jim's answer is correct, but I would like to expand on it a little. Cheap lathe tools are ALWAYS carbon steel. Older tools of good quality are also carbon steel, but there are wide differences in steels, even within the definition of carbon steel. Cheap tools are generally made without the alloying elements which contribute to hardness, toughness, yield strength, etc. The best way to improve the quality of your cheap tools is to buy better tools.
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